Spanish court suspends first pro-independence motion since new executives came to power

The Spanish Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the first pro-independence parliamentary motion since new executives in both Catalonia and Spain came to power in spring.

Yet unlike in previous decisions, the ruling did not include any warning for officials of possible criminal proceedings should the suspension were disobeyed.

This, as the Spanish government took the initiative to the high court earlier in July.

It was the first time that the new Socialist executive appealed a motion of the Catalan parliament to Spain's Constitutional Court.

Just before Madrid announced that it would challenge the motion on July 6, the Catalan executive had said that should they take it to courts, the new Spanish government will not be "much different" from the previous one.

The reasons the Spanish government spokeswoman mentioned for challenging the motion included "defending the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy."

The motion confirmed the commitment of Catalonia's parliament towards independence, as they did in a similar motion in 2015.

Motion 'mysteriously' changed

Shortly after passed in the chamber, the main unionist party Ciutadans said that the resolution “had mysteriously changed,” as published in the official parliament gazette.

"Some words have been deleted to soften the personal responsibilities that may arise,” said Carrizosa, who added: "Given the seriousness, this is something unprecedented, and we demand explanations from the parliamentary service."